Indiana has 20 all-time Big Ten conference titles. Purdue has 21. And in case you weren't familiar with this fact (I had to look it up in an encyclopedia just now), Purdue athletic director Morgan Burke would like to remind you.

Discussing Purdue's 2009 Big Ten tourney win as a reminder of how good Purdue basketball is, or something -- the explanation for this quote beyond "tweak Indiana" is still a little fuzzy to me -- Burke dropped this little bit of not-exactly-friendly trash talk:

“It should not come as a surprise, because Purdue leads the conference with 21 Big Ten championships,” he told the Star. “Nobody else has 21, not even the people down south of Indianapolis.”

"The people down South of Indianapolis" is an obvious reference to Indiana University, which, as I said up there in the first sentence, has a mere 20 conference titles in its history, one shy of Purdue's conference-leading 21. Purdue has a chance to widen that margin this year; Robbie Hummel and E-Twaun Moore and the gang will make Purdue a legitimate national contender, while Indiana, though improved, will be fighting a huge uphill battle to finish .500 in the Big Ten.

I'm afraid to say it, but in the short term, IU fans have to take this one on the chin. Should they need any retaliatory ammo, they can merely point to the five banners hanging on the wall in Assembly Hall. Purdue, with just two Final Four appearances (and no national titles) in its illustrious history, might have a tough time countering that one.

Related: Big Ten Basketball